Chapter 82: The Real Hunt Begins

The next morning, a large group of people had already gathered at the foot of the towering mountains outside the city.

A huge open area had been cleared on a hill overlooking the mountain range.

Two groups of young cultivators stood separately on opposite sides of the square. One side wore the blue robes of the Azura Heaven Sect, while the other wore the red robes of the Vermilion Flame Sect.

The sight of two thousand inner disciples gathering together created an enormous pressure that spread throughout the surroundings.

Long Feng stood among the disciples of the Azura Heaven Sect, his gaze calmly sweeping across the crowd.

There were quite a few familiar faces and many other inner disciples whom he had seen during the ranking tournament.

However, his gaze soon landed on someone standing at the very front of the Vermilion Flame Sect’s group.

It was the young man he had seen yesterday, Huo Tianyu!

The same person who had confronted Ye Wuxie in the middle of the city.

Although he hadn’t used his spiritual sense to investigate him yesterday, he could now vaguely sense the pressure coming from him. That person was definitely powerful. At the very least, he wasn’t weaker than himself.

Long Feng’s eyes flashed with interest.

However, he didn’t deliberately probe Huo Tianyu with his spiritual sense.

Publicly investigating someone with one’s spiritual sense was almost equivalent to openly provoking them. And doing that to someone from the opposing sect would be even more troublesome.

Long Feng wasn’t stupid enough to cause unnecessary trouble before the wilderness training had even begun.

There will be plenty of opportunities to test him later. His gaze moved away from Huo Tianyu.

At the very front of the square, several elders from the Azura Heaven Sect stood together. Beside them were several unfamiliar elders. Their auras were equally powerful; they must be elders from Vermilion Flame Sect.

The atmosphere around the entire gathering gradually became quiet. An elder from the Azura Heaven Sect stepped forward.

He looked at the thousands of disciples before him before speaking in a loud and dignified voice.

"All disciples, listen carefully."

His voice wasn’t particularly loud, yet it clearly entered the ears of everyone present.

"Today marks the beginning of the wilderness training between our Azura Heaven Sect and the Vermilion Flame Sect."

"You will enter the Blazing Flame Mountains and remain there for one month. Your primary objective is to collect as many Flame Spirit Stones as possible."

"As long as you obtain Flame Spirit Stones, they must be handed over when the training ends. Your final ranking will be determined according to the number of Flame Spirit Stones you have collected."

A slight commotion spread among the disciples.

The content of the briefing was similar to what elder had said at ship, just more detailed about rewards and so on rules.

Those who enter the top hundred will receive rewards from both sects. As for the disciples who perform exceptionally well, the sect will naturally provide additional rewards.

This caused many disciples’ eyes to brighten.

Although the specific rewards weren’t announced, everyone knew that the sect wouldn’t be stingy. After all, this wilderness training involved two of the seven great sects of the Central Region.

Performing well here would undoubtedly bring considerable benefits.

However, the elder’s expression suddenly became serious.

"But remember one thing, the entire mountain range had been covered with powerful formations. Every movement inside the mountains will be monitored by us. Therefore, don’t think about cheating."

"If anyone attempts to secretly cooperate with outsiders, hide their results, use prohibited methods, or violate the rules of this training, they will be severely punished by the sect."

After saying this, the elder stepped back.

Soon, the final preparations were completed. The atmosphere among the disciples changed. Excitement, anticipation, and fighting spirit appeared on many faces.

Long Feng glanced toward Bai Liying. Their eyes met for a moment, but neither of them moved toward the other.

With her strength, if she followed him into the deeper parts of the mountains, she would only become weight upon him.

Also, there were many things he needed to do and couldn’t be revealed in front of others.

His mind might be filled with lust from time to time, but he wasn’t foolish enough to let that desire affect his judgment.

This wilderness training was too important. He couldn’t afford to make a stupid mistake.

"Let’s go!"

With the elder’s command, the disciples of both sects began moving. Thousands of figures rushed toward the entrance of the Blazing Flame Mountains.

The moment they entered, the enormous group immediately began spreading out.

Although two thousand people sounded like a huge number, the Blazing Flame Mountains were even larger.

Once everyone entered the mountain range, the disciples quickly separated in different directions.

The more dangerous the region, the greater the chances of finding many Flame Spirit Stones.

Long Feng naturally didn’t stop in the outer region. His figure flashed through the forest as he continued deeper into the mountains.

The first thing he noticed was the heat.

The temperature here was far higher than outside. Even the air seemed to carry a faint burning sensation.

Yet strangely, despite the intense heat, the spiritual energy within the mountains was extremely rich.

It couldn’t compare with the spiritual energy inside the Azura Heaven Sect, but compared with the outside world, it was considerably better.

Long Feng breathed in deeply. A faint smile appeared on his face.

No wonder so many cultivators come here. This place was indeed an excellent cultivation environment. However, he wasn’t here to cultivate.

As he continued deeper, he encountered several beasts.

Most of them were low-level or mid-level third-level beasts. Their strength was roughly equivalent to cultivators in the True Spirit Realm.

To Long Feng, they weren’t worth wasting any time on.

Whenever a beast appeared in his path, he simply increased his speed and passed by it. The beasts didn’t even have enough time to react.

As he went deeper, however, the temperature continued to rise.

The surrounding vegetation became increasingly sparse, while strange crimson rocks could be seen scattered throughout the mountain.

Suddenly, a powerful beast appeared ahead. It was a huge black-furred wolf-like beast. However, what attracts his attention was the strange crimson stone held tightly between its jaws.

Long Feng’s gaze immediately fell on the stone and brightened.

Is that... a Flame Spirit Stone?

Although he didn’t see them beforehand, he had learnt many details about them.

The beast also noticed Long Feng. It released a low growl before rushing toward him. Its enormous body crossed the distance in an instant.

Long Feng didn’t even stop and simply raised one hand.

Boom!

A terrifying force exploded from his palm.

The third-level mid-stage beast didn’t even have time to react before its enormous body was blasted backward.

It crashed heavily into a nearby rock, blood sprayed from its mouth as its body went limp.

Long Feng casually walked over and picked up the crimson stone that had fallen from the beast’s mouth.

The moment he held it, a strange heat spread through his palm.

"Hmm?"

Long Feng’s expression changed slightly. He carefully examined the stone. This was the first time he had seen a stone like this.

He had seen low-grade and even mid-grade spirit stones before. Those stones contained pure spiritual energy that could be directly absorbed by cultivators.

But this stone was different!

The spiritual energy inside it was mixed with a strange flame-like energy. It felt hot even without being refined.

Long Feng slowly circulated his spiritual energy and touched the stone with his spiritual sense.

A wave of warm energy immediately entered his perception.

The amount of spiritual energy contained inside wasn’t particularly high. It was roughly comparable to a low-grade spirit stone.

However, the spiritual energy within it carried a strong flame attribute.

For cultivators who practiced fire-attributed cultivation techniques, this was undoubtedly a valuable treasure.

"No wonder it’s called a Flame Spirit Stone."

Long Feng smiled. This thing is indeed useful.

He looked at the stone in his hand for a moment before putting it away.

Unfortunately, according to the rules, all the Flame Spirit Stones had to be handed over to the sect after the training. He couldn’t simply keep them.

I’ll see if I can exchange some with the sect later.

Since the sect was collecting these stones, there would undoubtedly be some method of exchanging them for contribution points or other resources.

Long Feng wasn’t worried. He continued deeper into the mountain.

After traveling for some time, he suddenly remembered something. His expression became slightly serious.

Before entering the mountains, Elder Zixia had secretly given him something. It was specifically for finding Ye Wuxie.

Long Feng reached into his storage ring and took out a small token.

The token was roughly the size of his palm. Its surface was dark purple, with complicated patterns engraved across it.

Long Feng looked at it curiously. Then he poured a trace of spiritual energy into the token.

Buzz!

The moment his spiritual energy entered it, the engraved patterns suddenly lit up. A tiny needle emerged from the center of the token. It began spinning rapidly.

Finally, the needle pointed toward a certain direction.

Is this some kind of tracking talisman?

He had heard of similar treasures before.

Some powerful talisman masters could create tracking talismans capable of locating a person’s position. But such things usually required the target’s aura signature.

But how did Elder Zixia obtain Ye Wuxie’s aura signature?

Long Feng thought about it for a moment, but he quickly gave up.

Whatever method Elder Zixia had used, it was probably not something he could figure out now. More importantly, he had something to do now.

His lips curled into a faint smile.

"Looks like I found my target."

He put away the token and rushed in the direction. In a few moments, he disappeared into the depths of the Blazing Flame Mountains.